|
BOSTON(AP) The
Boston Red Sox
piled up the runs for a second straight game. This time, a little-known rookie held the
New York Yankees
' lineup in check.
Kevin Youkilis
homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs,
Junichi Tazawa
stopped New York's big bats and Boston snapped a five-game skid against the Yankees with a 14-1 win Saturday.
''He did a good job,'' Boston manager
Terry Francona
said. ''He gets a lineup that is dangerous probably on bad days and they come off swinging the bat like they did (Friday)
night.''
The Yankees beat the
Red Sox
20-11 in the series opener with their most runs and hits (23) since July 20, 2007. But on Saturday, they left six runners
in scoring position while Boston continued the slugging that has produced 49 runs in five games, four of them wins.
''Whatever happened, nobody can change that,'' said
David Ortiz
, who hit his 20th homer and drove in three runs. ''You've just got to come the next day with a fresh mind and play the game.
Simple. You've got to keep it simple.''
The
Red Sox
roughed up A.J. Burnett and set a team record with their eighth consecutive multihomer game.
Alex Gonzalez
also connected for Boston, which has 39 homers in August with eight games left.
Tazawa (2-2) worked out of trouble all day, allowing eight hits and two walks in six shutout innings. In four of them, the
Yankees had runners in scoring position with fewer than two outs but couldn't score. And after going 15 for 25 with runners
in scoring position Friday, they were 0 for 9 on Saturday.
''I think it was just the law of averages,''
Mark Teixeira
said. ''We hit so well with runners on base last night. We hit a lot of balls well (Saturday) and they just didn't fall in.''
Teixeira is expecting a much lower scoring game Sunday night when Boston's
Josh Beckett
and Yankees ace CC Sabathia try to become the majors' first 15-game winner.
''I would be shocked to see a 15-10 game,'' Teixeira said.
Tazawa spent the past four seasons with Nippon Oil ENEOS in the amateur Japan Industrial League. He appeared in just 53 games
in that stretch, but the
Red Sox
signed him to a three-year major league contract in December.
''It was clear in spring training even before games began'' that Tazawa could pitch inside aggressively, Boston pitching coach
John Farrell
said. ''The mound presence and the poise that he has we knew that that would be something he would take to the mound today.''
The 23-year-old right-hander made his major league debut at New York on Aug. 7 and allowed
Alex Rodriguez
's game-ending, two-run homer in the Yankees' 2-0 win in 15 innings.
In the third inning Saturday, he retired Rodriguez on a called third strike.
''I am satisfied that I could get a strikeout with him from my slider,'' Tazawa said through a translator.
He struck out two and completed his longest outing by getting
Melky Cabrera
to ground into a double play with runners at first and third.
Daniel Bard
relieved and allowed
Nick Swisher
's 21st homer in the seventh.
The Yankees dropped to 15-4 in their last 19 games, a stretch that includes a four-game sweep of Boston. Their AL East lead
over the
Red Sox
fell to 6 1/2 games.
Burnett (10-7) got off to a rare poor start when he allowed three runs in the first on a two-run double by Ortiz and an RBI
single by
Jason Bay
. In his 15 previous outings, Burnett allowed just one first-inning run.
''It seemed like he was shaking me off'' a lot, catcher
Jorge Posada
said. ''I asked for a certain pitch and he threw another one. It's frustrating.''
The
Red Sox
added four runs in the second on Gonzalez's first homer since being acquired from Cincinnati on Aug. 14 and Youkilis' three-run
shot.
Burnett allowed nine hits and a career-high nine runs in five innings, dropping to 0-3 in his last five starts.
Alfredo Aceves
allowed three runs in the sixth on an RBI single by
Victor Martinez
and a two-run homer by Youkilis, his 22nd.
Youkilis added an RBI double in the two-run eighth.
NOTES: Boston scored 13 runs with two outs. ... New York LF
Johnny Damon
expects to return to the lineup Sunday night after suffering a bruised right knee when he fouled a ball off his leg Friday.
... Yankees captain
Derek Jeter
went 0 for 3 after entering the game on a 25-for-46 roll. ... Ortiz reached 20 homers for the eighth straight season, the
last seven with the
Red Sox
. ... Hall of Famer and 1967 Triple Crown winner
Carl Yastrzemski
turned 70 on Saturday. ... The
Red Sox
called up RHP
Enrique Gonzalez
from Triple-A Pawtucket and sent RHP
Michael Bowden
to their top farm club.
|